This invention relates generally to the detection of hazardous material and, more particularly, to the application of image processing to early detection of potentially hazardous material associated with mail collection or the collection of other objects.
Recently there has been increased awareness of the potential for large-scale introduction of hazardous materials, for example, biological organisms, to create chaos or to harm an intended set of victims. One potential delivery method that terrorists or other criminals utilize to deliver such hazardous materials is through the mail or other form of a delivery. In so doing, not only is damage incurred by the intended victims, but also by any set of potential victims that may be in a position of handling such objects as the mail during the delivery or distribution process.
There is currently technology available to law enforcement organizations for detecting the presence of chemical and biological threats. Such test materials generally are sensitive to specific hazardous materials and are utilized by directly putting them in contact with such hazardous materials. To date, however, there is a lack of early detection of such hazardous material especially during the early phases of mail handling or processing. Systems in place today do not deal with detection prior to entering into the formal distribution process. Thus, throughout the distribution process potential non-intended victims are being subjected to hazardous material carried by, for example, letter or package mail.
While complete inspection would be costly, early detection, which allows suspected items to be culled from the processing stream and be fully inspected, is desirable. There is a need for automated technology to help identify mail pieces with threat-consistent characteristics for early detection. Once the candidate mail pieces have been identified as potentially harmful, the analysis, inspection, and neutralization efforts could be focused on a manageable subset of the mail.